Mumbai rains live: Inclement weather hits flight operations

Arriving passengers stranded as no taxis available

Heavy rains, marked by low visibility and strong winds, disrupted flight operations at Mumbai on Tuesday as seven flights were diverted, while several others suffered from an hour-long delay due to inclement weather.
 
The minimum visibility requirement at Mumbai airport is 550 metres and arrivals were suspended briefly as visibility dropped below that mark.
 
Bad weather also led to severe air traffic congestion. 
 

Airlines such as Air India, IndiGo and Vistara waived cancellation charges for Tuesday's flights. 
 
With rail lines shut and roads water logged passenger flow to airport was thin. Airline and ground handling agency employees too were unable to report to work for afternoon and evening shifts. Arriving passengers too were stranded at airport as Ola and Uber taxis were not plying. The export cargo shed of the Mumbai airport too was inundated with water. A Mumbai International Airport spokesperson said cargo operations were  not impacted and around 350 tonnes of cargo was handled today.

 
Airport authorities have taken a few steps to reduce the angst of people stranded at the airport. 

"We instructed all the food and beverage outlets to charge for food and beverages as per MRP only," said Mumbai International Airport Limited spokesperson.

Videos of water logging at the airport were being shared on the social media platform Twitter.   While some others posted videos of heavy rains.